DIFFERENT CHARACTERS
and how you can deal with that:
Tom & Henry are very different 'people' (no 2 people are the same, no 2 horses are the same).
Tom is a large powerful, thoughtful horse, if he comes up against an object he hasn’t seen before that might be scary (small white flowers, large white flowers, sheep), he stops, fixes his muscly neck so it’s rock solid, thinks about it – we may have to turn back for a few paces , or back up a few feet, and I'll allow this, because it's just what a horse needs - room to move, and time to think. I don’t believe in forcing a horse to confront something that is terrifying to him, ( i would be terrified if someone made me go up a ladder!), I’d much rather his reasoning kick in, and although he might not be entirely happy to do it, will eventually asses there is very little threat and carry on past the object – keeping his eyes and an ear on it at all times, but he carries on – this is what Tom does.
Just in case, I always wear protective body armour and high-viz clothing at all times, even in the countryside, someone with a dog or worse still a gun will be able to see you from far away and adjust their plans accordingly if necessary.
I will reassure him with light contact with my legs and my voice – voice I believe is very important – horses are very quiet creatures, but familiar kind words, spoken calmly I believe can help, doesn’t matter what you say – I usually just tell them how gorgeous they are and that no one will ever hurt them, ever. And he’ll gradually move past, keeping his eyes on the object, and his body in full flee status if needed.
Then we’ll walk away, usually bouncier than before and after a minute Tom will let out an almighty snort that can be heard in the next village! This is his way of saying phew!! Done it and survived – how brave am I?
quiet lanes are the best places for learning, I go out early so there's hardly any other traffic about.
Obviously if you are in a busy lane and spending time doing this will cause you more anxiety as you hold up impatient drivers – so don’t do it, and if it’s dangerous, or if your horse is very very scared and you ‘feel’ he is about to flight – walk away, leave it for another time – you are much better off to be safe and to try again another day, than to risk you or your horse any injury. Don’t worry about people saying you’ve let him get away with behaving badly – because you haven’t, because he has not behaved badly – he has behaved like a horse. They are just acting as if their life depended upon it – that is what horses do – survive. What we have to do as their guardians is to help them learn (never force them) that not everything is scary – and most everyday things can be ignored – but this is a gradual process and comes with experience – Tom still hasn’t made his peace with cows yet, but I’m certainly not going to march him up to a field full of cows and scare him half to death, we’ll come across them while out riding, unexpectedly – so I’ve not been working myself up about it, and deal with it in a calm way at that time.
I recently had to walk away from a problem, I had to dismount Tom on a hack because horses in a field nearby were galloping around – Tom was showing off and behaving instinctively, (he looked and felt amazing)...as a part of the group of horses, and my tactics didn’t work here because his instincts to be part of the herd were too strong to deal with, so i got off so he could focus on me, and led him safely away – of course the downside to riding such a strapping lad at over 17hh is that if there is nowhere to stand on – you end up walking all the way home!!!!
Henry is the very opposite, to him time is wasted in threat assessment, 'run first and don’t ask questions later' is his motto (actually Henry has 2 motto's, but the other one is carrot related). Having said that, strangely less things seem to scare Henry, and the things that do, i can't always see and sometimes never know. (neither of mine mind plastic bags or things flying about – one of the first things I learned from their trainer was to teach them that not everything will eat them, while they are still young, and always chuck things around. So when I take their boots off, I throw them through their legs across the yard, get them used to having to think of things like moving objects that won’t hurt them).
Henry is a very alert horse; he can hear and see things in the next county. Quite often he will just stop dead, and no amount of persistent leg work or voice command will get him to move, I have realised that when this happens all he needs is for me to sit still and quiet while he figures out whats scaring him, and what reactions he plans to take about it – he just needs to work out what he can hear, probably he is working out where he is too in relation to Tom, and of course he always leaves a trail of pony sized droppings so he can find his way home.
Henry has a natural gorgeousness that makes me wonder why people yank their horses in and tie them down - no amount of gagetry will ever make your horse appear more fantastic than he does naturally.
Henry does the most amazing slow trot – I call it ‘Shelley style’, it is a speed I have developed with my boys for roadwork. I don’t trot much on roads, because I am worried about the damage that impactive forces can have on their legs and feet. For the maybe 20 seconds I do do, it is the most amazing slow trot, full of energy and bounce, but very slow – it is wonderful to ride, I feel like I am floating along on water – and you don’t hear bang!, bang!, bang!, it’s tap, tap, tap. it’s just as amazing to watch too so my neighbour tells me.
This is me demonstrating that although I appear to be riding on the buckle, I am alert to Henry's energy and can adjust my seat accordingly - when you have big moving horses, it becomes natural to have a deep and secure seat, but like all things this takes time. I have a large bottom, so maybe it's easire for me to start with!
Anyway, if your horse is like Henry, it means you are always on alert status, you can't just be a pedestrian, you have to be there in the moment, every moment. My energy has to match his. I have learned to recognise him tensing his muscles, feeling his heart beating faster, keep your heels down and have contact. It may sound like I mean short reins for Henry, no, I don’t ride in short reins – I like a nice relaxed natural outline for my boys as they are still growing and developing, I ride with soft yielding hands which they appreciate, and if I feel I need any extra control, I sit quietly, upright, and I raise my hands a little not shorten them. I sit still and deep. But there are times when up a shorter notch on the reins is the necessary thing to do, you will be able to feel when this is needed, but always remember how horses see, by restricting their heads, you may make things worse – know yourself and your horse.
Set yourself goals and do them, give yourself loads of time: like I will say to myself…this year I will……..and then I can approach these tasks in a measured, thoughtful, calm way.
So my first year with the boys: I had a task for each of them: Henry, I needed to be able to leave him, to go out on Tom, and know that he’d be OK, not jump out of his stable and hurt himself, and Tom just to please stand still when i got on...
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